Meet Mary Schapiro’s New Colleagues at Promontory

Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro’s decision to take her talents to Promontory Financial Group LLC are likely to revive scrutiny of the firm and stoke broader concerns about the revolving door between top Washington regulators and private industry. The Project on Government Oversight has taken the SEC to task for the way former employees of the agency have sought to influence their former employer after leaving the regulator.

In addition, Ms. Schapiro’s new employer has increasingly received attention for the extensive and growing list of former regulators that populate its offices a mere block from the White House in downtown Washington. When she joins Promontory, Ms. Schapiro — the only person to have led the SEC, CFTC and FINRA — will count the following former top regulators among her new colleagues:

Julie Williams (managing director, head of domestic advisory practice): Ms. Williams served as a regulator for more than three decades at the OCC, Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. In addition to two stints as the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, she was a key player during the writing of the Dodd-Frank law and served as first senior deputy comptroller and chief counsel at the agency before leaving.

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These smart folks need to be able to use the revolving door if we are to have the benefit of their talents even for brief periods. When a top lawyer can make a million or more a year in private corporate practice but only a couple of hundred thousand with the government, what choice is left if he or she wishes to serve the public at all? One of the many shortcomings of our system is the absence of a true professional corps to manage key agencies. That corps can only come about with market-rate compensation.

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